Sunday, November 20, 2011

The Beautiful Boys - Cinnamon

This rooster is one I'm keeping for several reasons, but the most noticeable one is his leg color!

Cinnamon is not as flashy as some of the other roosters, but he does have nice yellow legs. His mottling is less pronounced than some of the other roosters. He has small flecks on his chest, but not a lot of white all in all. Size-wise, he's not too bad, bigger than Mocha and Butterscotch, but not as big as Flame.

Is this Cinnamon's daddy? I think so.

If I had to guess, I'd say his daddy was probably my NHR x Aloha rooster. This "guess" is based on his age, his size, (a bit larger than a so-called "pure" Aloha like Butterscotch) and the bright red feather color, and big red comb. This would make Cinnamon a half-brother to Cheeto and Flame, but all three of these roosters would be out of different mothers.

Overall his body looks a lot like the half NHR, half Aloha rooster, who had his own breeding pen here last season. If I'm right, it would make him 25% New Hampshire Red, and 75% Aloha. Should be a great cross with Sussex-bred hens.

Below, is a breeder pen that I set up last season. This shows my NHR/Aloha rooster in with several hens. Most of the hens were pure Aloha (small but colorful) except for the one bigger hen you see, who is half Aloha, half Sussex. I suspect this bigger hen is the mom of "Flame". I'm not sure which of these hens is Cinnamon's mom, though.